Funded project
Attitudes to the poor - continuity and change - a digitisation project utilising the resources of the Heatherbank museum of social work
| Project details | |
|---|---|
| Project contributors | Janice West |
| Organisation | Glasgow Caledonian University |
| Contact details | j.west@gcal.ac.uk |
| Disciplinary focus | Social Work |
| Start date | September 2009 |
Description
Until 2004, Glasgow Caledonian University provided accommodation for the Heatherbank Museum of Social Work http://www.gcal.ac.uk/heatherbank/index.html and still retains all of the Museum’s resources. These materials are utilised by a wide range of researchers across the world and by the social work students at GCU to increase their understanding of a wide range of social issues. Both undergraduate and postgraduate social work students utilise the resources related to the creation of the Welfare State as part of their teaching and learning about the historical development of social work. At present, these resources are catalogued in a manual system and have to be physically retrieved from the archives by the staff of Research Collections and made available to those who request access. The Museum collection includes books, journals, photographs and artefacts that form a significant archive of interest to social work and social policy communities and also perhaps some aspects of political interest. Although the Museum has a website, this does not at present allow any form of access directly to the materials themselves, only the related catalogue information. The ability to access such resources more directly has clear logistical merits but also opens up the collections to a much wider audience. It is important to note that while this Museum is Scottish in terms of its historical development, its collections are eclectic and applicable across the entire UK.
A selection of materials related to “attitudes to poverty” have been extracted from the collection and made more widely available through digitisation. Articles from the Poor Law Magazine are the starting point supported by other items in the collection such as photographs, reports etc together with audio resources where available to augment understanding of the materials.
Outputs
Final SWAP report: Attitudes to Poverty (WORD, 77 KB)
Spoken Word blog : Attitudes to Poverty
